Top 10 intriguing spring QB battles

It’s rare that a player wins a quarterback job in the spring, but we should at least exit April with a better idea as to how things stand at a number of high-profile programs -- Texas, USC and a handful of SEC schools, among them -- that are seeking new signal-callers.

Here are the hottest QB battles entering spring camps, some of which begin in the next couple of weeks. (Sincerest apologies if you’re still shoveling snow; it’ll be over soon.) I’ve ordered the races from the most wide-open to ones that could eventually become contentious.

Kessler was good last year in a season in which it was difficult for any Trojan to be good. But Browne has the skill set to be better.

“Big, strong, athletic,” new coach Steve Sarkisian said in January when I asked about Browne, the 6-foot-5, 220-pound redshirt freshman.

Sarkisian, the former Washington coach, has known Browne, a Washington native, since Browne was an eighth-grader. He thought he missed his chance to coach Browne after losing him to Lane Kiffin and USC, but coaching and life are funny like that. It was an unavoidable pairing, evidently.

It’s conceivable that Kessler, particularly coming out of the spring, could still emerge as the leader. Experience is in his favor, as is relatively steady play as a first-year starter. He was plus-13 in TDs-to-INTs (20-to-7) and hit 65 percent of his passes.

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Travis Haney

Travis Haney joined ESPN in April 2012 as Insider's national college football writer. He previously covered the University of Oklahoma Sooners for The (Oklahoma City) Oklahoman for one season, and the University of South Carolina Gamecocks for The (Charleston, S.C.) Post and Courier for four. Additionally, Haney has contributed since 2003 to ESPN publications and projects, including ESPN The Magazine.

A native of Cleveland, Tenn., Haney's initial introduction to a college football cathedral was Neyland Stadium. He later graduated from the University of Tennessee, in 2003, and has spent time covering the Volunteers, the University of Georgia, Clemson University, and other schools. Safe to say, football, and football in the South, was injected into his bloodstream at a young age.

Haney is the author of three books -- Gamecock Glory and Gamecock Encore, which chronicled the South Carolina baseball team's run to the 2010 and 2011 national championships, and State of Disunion, a historical look at the Clemson-South Carolina football rivalry that he co-wrote with Larry Williams.